Buffalo & Doozerie - The mild musings of two grumpy old men!

Beasty

Lusk_Doyle wrote: »

Got overtaken here last weekend. Heard a car screaming up behind me and a massive over-rev as he shifted down by about three gears

That's simply not possible...

... I drive an automatic:pac:

doozerie

Beasty wrote: »

That's simply not possible...

... I drive an automatic:pac:

One doesn't *drive* an automatic, ones just steers it while various engine related things happen by magic.

lescol

Was riding up here last week when I heard a car behind me. There's a place up ahead on the left that I thought I'd pull into and let the car pass. Then "Beeeep"...so I carry on with the plan and as the car passed I shout "What's wrong?" The car stops, OMG a confrontation with a motorist! So I cycled up to the passenger window and asked "What's wrong?"...
Her:- I was about to hit you"

Me:- "You can't just drive up and hit me!"

Her:_ "Well keep in"

Me:- "You do know that I'm allowed to use the road?"

Her:- "Ha Ha" and speeds off!

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Glencar,+Co.+Kerry/@51.995049,-9.857925,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s2iR-ExOo6pzjIp0IdgUjkw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x48455cd6c8db80a1:0x2600c7a819bab571

CramCycle

Beasty wrote: »

That's simply not possible...

... I drive an automatic:pac:

Slam the accelerator down and it will down shift, I know my old Saab you could double tap it off the floor to drop two gears.

Just saying, there are a few holes in your story, not insinuating anything.

Lusk_Doyle

CramCycle wrote: »

Slam the accelerator down and it will down shift, I know my old Saab you could double tap it off the floor to drop two gears.

Just saying, there are a few holes in your story, not insinuating anything.

Ah, his memory is not what it used to be since the, well you know what!

Beasty

What

Beasty

CramCycle wrote: »

Slam the accelerator down and it will down shift, I know my old Saab you could double tap it off the floor to drop two gears.

Just saying, there are a few holes in your story, not insinuating anything.

Don't drive an old Saab (or "old" anything for that matter - that reminds me - time for a new car.....

CramCycle

You mean joining the ICVA? :pac:

Beasty

CramCycle wrote: »

You mean joining the ICVA? :pac:

Joined the IVCA March 2010, while recovering from the accident ....

Beasty

... anyway, this thread is supposed to be for you grumpy old men. Can't understand why you keep dragging me into it

CramCycle

I have in general over the last few days reached an almost zen like state, ignoring the stupidity nearby as I realise it only infuriates me. Paying attention to the stupidity near me only to avoid it where possible. With the exception of calling one guy inconsiderate when he skimmed me at a red light (I overtook him shortly after and he did not even notice my comment) all was well until today. Waiting at the bike lights while peds crossed, I ignored the cyclists crawling through rudely, until I seen a guy in a hybrid barrel through towards me. A couple had stepped out and luckily one realised the look of horror on my face and pulled the other back. The hybrid slammed his brakes but didn't stop until he was through the junction. Back wheel skidding out and blocking everyone.

For a split second my recent zen like statement was broken, in the two seconds this all occurred, I was tempted to jam out my arm and clothesline the hybrid guy.

I resisted, and simply muttered pr*ck, not that he noticed as he waved his head in disappointment at the peds who had right of way.

The DB behind him agreed, stopping to let the couple continue and shaking his head as if to query internally was such ignorance in line with survival instinct.

The DB user following the rules restored my zen like state instantly.

magicbastarder

sounds to me that your post is not in the spirit of this thread.

doozerie

Another turbo session evening rolled round yesterday. I'd successfully negotiated the collection of my daughter and her bike. I left her bike in the boot of the car when I got home though, but still, progress of sorts. Then I realised that circumstances meant I'd have to do the weekly food shop before my workout. At least I wasn't already in cycling kit.

Into the car and off to the nearest Tesco's. Its car park has two main entrances which also serve as exits, then it also has one entrance-only. It's clearly marked as not being an exit. It's only about 50 metres from the nearest of the two exits. Yet people still drive out through it. As I approached it there was an exiting car sitting there, filling the entrance. ...it's a feckin' entrance, like, it's not complicated! At least the driver had the decency to look a little uncomfortable as I stuck my left indicator on to turn into the ENTRANCE. Uncomfortable enough to be willing to drive out in front of a car coming the other way, as it happens. Then she stopped, blocking me from turning in, blocking the other car from passing. She waited until the other driver did what they had to do, wave her on, and she drove off. *sigh*

Into the shops, got the food, forgot the tomatoes - how did I forget the tomatoes, I eat the things every day, they are amongst my closest friends - back in the car, drove out through the exit (ooh, the exit works, fancy that). Back home, unpack the shopping, tomatoes, where are the tomatoes, who forgot the tomatoes, oh it was me, balls, delay, push the turbo trainer around, delay some more, fight the apathy, finally setup the turbo trainer.

It was another threshold session, so nothing particularly hard. ...it was particularly hard. I struggled, oh how I struggled. I wasn't in a positive frame of mind. In the midst of this one of our cats, the same one that was fond of my laptop previously, climbed onto the lower step of the step stool, under the step where the laptop rested. Again. Ffffffuuuu....!!! But no, false alarm, he hopped back down again and crouched underneath the stool instead. Crisis averted.

Then, with his back to an unlocked catflap that gave him unhindered access to the great big world outside, he threw up on the floor. He threw up a lot. He mostly, though not entirely, missed the mat so it could have been worse. But there it was, lying there directly in my line of sight, steaming gently. I was going to be looking straight at *that* for the rest of the session.

Just to be sure, he wandered over to my left and threw up some more there. How could he have had anything left inside him? So now I had a second little "present" working hard at drawing my attention. For the rest of the session I fancied that my electric fan was less than gently wafting the smell straight into my face. Lovely. I should probably have felt some concern for the welfare of the cat, but that sensation welling up inside me was more bitter hatred than worry for his health, maybe there was some nausea too. Mostly I was fantasising about turning him into a rug that I could drape over the puddles of sick.

I got through the session, just, and set about tidying up my bike and turbo. The cat hopped onto a chair, looked at me, looked away, and heaved some more. There was an audible *splash* at it hit the tiled floor. WHYYYY?! Then he wailed at me. His usual wail, the kind that makes fingernails down a blackboard seem pleasant by comparison. We reckon he is part Siamese, as far as I know they are renowned for being loud, and he has some of the same physical features. He is 10% Siamese I reckon, 90% utter bastard.

The cleanup process was quite involved. Any neighbours that were still knocking around after 11pm last night would have been "treated" to the sight of me in lycra shorts and base layer, sweat still pouring off me, carrying a bag of scraped up sick out to the compost bin. The worms must have been thrilled, sure the stuff was already mostly digested, at least half of their work was done for them.

One of these days I hope to complete a turbo session without incident, hopping off the bike at the end without harbouring murderous intentions towards the furry ingrates that we have to share our home with. I live in hope, but I'm destined to be disappointed, most likely.

doozerie

I managed to forget the point at which my evening started its decline into a pile of poo. On my commute home from work the back of my bike felt weird. I looked down and saw a visible wobble in the rear wheel. On another bike, one which wasn't itself a pile of sh1te, that would indicate a buckle that would need attention when I got home. On my hated Kona Rove, with its wheels made entirely of human misery, a wobble inevitably indicates yet another broken spoke.

Not just one broken spoke though, as I discovered when I got home, but two broken spokes this time. That bike is devoted to making me hate it, its the only thing it excels at. So after the poxy cat and cleaning up his poxy sick I was then up until 1am fitting two new spokes to my Kona'a poxy rear wheel.

Such is my contempt for that bike that I don't bother with the niceties of removing the wheel, the cassette, or the disc rotor in order to install replacement spokes, it's too regular an occurrence to bother. That leads to spokes which are quite mangled before the tension pulls them straight. One of those two spoke in particular was impressive, I don't think there was a centimetre long stretch of it that was left straight before I threaded it into the nipple. Fcuk you Kona, that that for some wheel-fixing bodgery!

buffalo

To the muppet on Whitworth Road this morning - if the bus is less than a foot away from the kerb (having just pulled away from a stop), it's not reeeally advisable to try scoot up the inside. The fact that you had to unclip to fit into the gap should've been a clue that there wasn't enough room. And with the green traffic light ahead, you should really have foreseen that it was going to start moving before you were even a metre along it.

I'm not sure who to judge more harshly though - you, or the impatient guy behind you who mounted the footpath to go around the bus, and was halfway onto the kerb when the bus moved off.

And to the UCD CC wanker who blasted through the pedestrians at Talbot St/Gardiner St yesterday morning - you're a wanker.

CramCycle

buffalo wrote: »

I'm not sure who to judge more harshly though - you, or the impatient guy behind you who mounted the footpath to go around the bus, and was halfway onto the kerb when the bus moved off.

Walking my son home from creche the other day, a BMW 151 mounted the pavement, to get around some cars in his way (i.e. traffic). Driving straight towards me and my 1.5yo he did not even see us, I let a roar and managed to pick up my son and buggy and run sidewards, and pin the buggy to the wall, before he hit us.

He didn't stop, didn't slow, didn't even react to us at all. The car behind him was waiting for traffic, as in not mounting the pavement, and the drivers jaw was so low in shock I thought it might actually drop through the footwell of the car.

This was my other break from my zen like attitude of late, if I had gotten the license plate completely, I would find that man, there would be no talk or want of explanation, I would sneak up behind him (I would want him to have no chance) and beat him to within an inch of his life with my U lock, and then take that inch.

nomdeboardie

doozerie wrote: »

... wheels made entirely of human misery ...

One of many great doozerisms :pac:

nomdeboardie

CramCycle wrote: »

Walking my son home from creche the other day, a BMW 151 mounted the pavement, to get around some cars in his way (i.e. traffic). Driving straight towards me and my 1.5yo he did not even see us, I let a roar and managed to pick up my son and buggy and run sidewards, and pin the buggy to the wall, before he hit us.

He didn't stop, didn't slow, didn't even react to us at all. The car behind him was waiting for traffic, as in not mounting the pavement, and the drivers jaw was so low in shock I thought it might actually drop through the footwell of the car.

This was my other break from my zen like attitude of late, if I had gotten the license plate completely, I would find that man, there would be no talk or want of explanation, I would sneak up behind him (I would want him to have no chance) and beat him to within an inch of his life with my U lock, and then take that inch.

On a less extreme end of the scale, I've often been taken aback at how motorists in this country seem to think nothing of rolling up onto the footpad to park 'half-on-half-off-road' within inches of me as I walk along. I don't object to 'wheels-on-the-path' providing there's enough room for e.g. a wheelchair to pass, but you'd think they could have the decency to wait a second until pedestrians pass by I feel there's a general cavalier attitude about driving near non-motorcaged humans in general - including in shared areas, e.g. paring lots, access lanes to these etc and footpadless country roads - I was almost taken out of it while walking facing traffic in the hills by a motorist who could see me well in advance and could easily have moved out a few inches and/or slowed down :mad:

rollingscone

nomdeboardie wrote: »

On a less extreme end of the scale, I've often been taken aback at how motorists in this country seem to think nothing of rolling up onto the footpad to park 'half-on-half-off-road' within inches of me as I walk along. I don't object to 'wheels-on-the-path' providing there's enough room for e.g. a wheelchair to pass, but you'd think they could have the decency to wait a second until pedestrians pass by I feel there's a general cavalier attitude about driving near non-motorcaged humans in general - including in shared areas, e.g. paring lots, access lanes to these etc and footpadless country roads - I was almost taken out of it while walking facing traffic in the hills by a motorist who could see me well in advance and could easily have moved out a few inches and/or slowed down :mad:

I approve of both the sentiment expressed and the 410 appropriate use of footpad.

CramCycle

nomdeboardie wrote: »

On a less extreme end of the scale, I've often been taken aback at how motorists in this country seem to think nothing of rolling up onto the footpad to park 'half-on-half-off-road' within inches of me as I walk along. I don't object to 'wheels-on-the-path' providing there's enough room for e.g. a wheelchair to pass, but you'd think they could have the decency to wait a second until pedestrians pass by

I am pretty much the same, the number of people though who park in such a manner that it is a tight squeeze for people to walk past let alone get a wheelchair through is ridiculous, I cam home the other day to a car parked across my road so that I was the only one on my street who could get their vehicle home. On the road upto my house alot of kids walk to school but repeatedly cars are blocking the path as best as possible so any mothers with prams can't get through.

Uno my Uno.

CramCycle wrote: »

Walking my son home from creche the other day, a BMW 151 mounted the pavement, .......

..........This was my other break from my zen like attitude of late, if I had gotten the license plate completely, I would find that man, there would be no talk or want of explanation, I would sneak up behind him (I would want him to have no chance) and beat him to within an inch of his life with my U lock, and then take that inch.

I always try to remain restrained on the roads if not zen but had I been in your position I would have been hammering on the passenger window, if not sitting on the bonnet, howling for blood.

nomdeboardie

CramCycle wrote: »

I am pretty much the same, the number of people though who park in such a manner that it is a tight squeeze for people to walk past let alone get a wheelchair through is ridiculous, I cam home the other day to a car parked across my road so that I was the only one on my street who could get their vehicle home. On the road upto my house alot of kids walk to school but repeatedly cars are blocking the path as best as possible so any mothers with prams can't get through.

I raise you



Taking the pic me feel a little better at the time (though I decided not to do anything with the evidence afterwards)

buffalo

nomdeboardie wrote: »

I raise you

Taking the pic me feel a little better at the time (though I decided not to do anything with the evidence afterwards)

What's wrong with that? It's not on the double-yellow lines, 'tis graaaaand!

CramCycle

Uno my Uno. wrote: »

I always try to remain restrained on the roads if not zen but had I been in your position I would have been hammering on the passenger window, if not sitting on the bonnet, howling for blood.

There was that split second where I considered that but, as I am sure you can appreciate, running away from my child to do this would not have been in his best interests. If anyone I trusted was there, he would have been in there arms and I would have been on top of the car and dragging the driver through the sunroof and dragging the driver through it.

nomdeboardie wrote: »

I raise you

The classic, you can't clamp me because I am not on the road maneuver :rolleyes:

Uno my Uno.

buffalo wrote: »

What's wrong with that? It's not on the double-yellow lines, 'tis graaaaand!

A friend mine said something similar to me one day when she managed to park on the path between the wall and a large tree. Blocking the path wasn't a problem apparently because people could just "walk around the tree." It was only when I pointed out that the cops would probably have something to say about it when they saw it (which they would, it was in Donnybrook on a Leinster Rugby Match day) that she decided moving it might be a good idea.

nomdeboardie

buffalo wrote: »

What's wrong with that? It's not on the double-yellow lines, 'tis graaaaand!

In the same way that cars that roll past advanced stop zones (bike box) at the lights, then realise they're blocking buses from turning at tight junctions, aren't actually on the bike box :pac:

MediaMan

doozerie wrote: »

On my hated Kona Rove, with its wheels made entirely of human misery, a wobble inevitably indicates yet another broken spoke.

Interesting. I have a Kona Jake, and virtually every moving part on that bike has malfunctioned or broken within its first 12 months of life. So far the frame itself has not caused any problems - but every other part has done, making the bike a huge source of frustration, more so than all the problems I've had with all the other bikes I've had in my lifetime put together.

Kona are clearly taking the piss, and hopefully are being found out.

buffalo

buffalo wrote: »

What's wrong with that? It's not on the double-yellow lines, 'tis graaaaand!

ah wait, I see it now. Didn't leave the hazards on.

doozerie

MediaMan wrote: »

Interesting. I have a Kona Jake, and virtually every moving part on that bike has malfunctioned or broken within its first 12 months of life. So far the frame itself has not caused any problems - but every other part has done, making the bike a huge source of frustration, more so than all the problems I've had with all the other bikes I've had in my lifetime put together.

Kona are clearly taking the piss, and hopefully are being found out.

I used to be a fan of Kona many years ago, I thought their steel-framed MTB's were great at the time and I still think were good now despite the frame of mine having snapped. Kona themselves repaired it and it subsequently snapped again, which left me questioning the quality of their workmanship.

Then they reneged on the supposed lifetime warranty on my frame, and from what I've read they officially disowned the lifetime warranty across a range, perhaps all, of their frames built before a certain date, which left me questioning both the quality and reliability of their brand generally.

When I replaced my MTB I opted for the Rove - despite my misgivings about the Kona brand by then, the Rove was the only bike I could find that fit my very specific requirements at the time. On paper the Rove looked overpriced, I was given a 20% discount that brought it down to a similar price as some its much better value competitors. As I've discovered, even at that reduced price the Rove is still very much over-priced, for a bike that retails for €1,600 it is a rip-off given the very poor quality of some of the parts.

So for me Kona no longer even represents value for money, completely the opposite in fact, and combined with the other issues I have with the brand I'll never buy another Kona bike.

doozerie

Re cars on footpaths, the attitude behind such behaviour still shocks me. I've ranted on here before about cars parked like that near my daughter's school, the fact that this still happens and that the drivers responsible are themselves parents of other young kids in the school leaves me exasperated.

I was chatting to one of the parents a while back, a fellow cyclist as it happens, and while he initially agreed that such parking is unacceptable, in his next breath he told me that he has tried parking his car on the road but due to the reaction of other motorists he now parks it on the footpath too. And this on what is essentially a country road with a footpath on one side only, leaving pedestrians (and the very few kids like my daughter that cycle to school accompanied by a parent) having to travel on a narrow and twisty road. How those parents square that with their own consciences I just don't understand.

This would all be easy to understand if the drivers concerned were obnoxious arseholes in every other respect. They're not though, those parents at my daughter's school that I've had conversations with have been very "nice" people, typical concerned parents in fact. I don't understand what switch gets flipped in the head of such people once they climb into a car and slip into driver mode. I reckon it's the same switch that gets flipped in the head of otherwise rational and considerate people who climb onto a bike and than happily run a red light or swerve onto the pavement to get round an obstacle on the road, merrily ploughing through pedestrians in the process.

Maybe such people are just happy to let their inner arsehole take over when using the roads, maybe they are genuinely so dim-witted that they simply don't understand the consequences of their actions, personally I reckon there is a lot of fear underlying such behaviour. Fear of what I'm not entirely sure, maybe it's a desire to seem/feel like they "belong" - I can't think of any other reason why cyclists seems more inclined to break red lights when they see other cyclists do it (not doing it suddenly makes them more conspicuous), or why motorists will casually park in such a way that they create dangers to pedestrians rather than impinge on fellow motorists by parking on the road.

Fundamentally though I don't care why people do it. I particularly don't care if they feel like they "have to". Live involves many tough decisions, the decision of whether to stomp on the rights of others just to avoid the scorn of fellow motorists is not one of the tough ones, not even close. Neither is the choice of a cyclist who find themselves choosing between waiting for the traffic light to go green versus blasting though on red. Those who tend to self-martyrdom no doubt feel like they are alone in having to make such "tough" decisions, that no-one else feels their so-called pain. Grow up, we all have to make such decisions every day, and not just on the road, as tempting as it is to jump the queue in a shop for example most of us realise it is just plain obnoxious and inconsiderate to do so.

Life is challenging enough at times without being subjected to that entirely unnecessary kind of behaviour from others too. So you feel the "need" to park your car on the footpath, or to run a red light in your car or on your bike, etc., well guess what, that option is available to all of the rest of us too, the reason that we don't do it is not because we are less awesome than you (no, we're not just robots following a set of rules mindlessly), it's because we have a bit of maturity and a sense of social responsibility. These are good traits, they may even make us awesome, your lack of them certainly makes you a prat.

Personality defects aside, as a society we also seem to have a fundamentally broken attitude towards roads and road users. We value the car above all else, every other road user gets less priority. If issues arise, the solution which impinges least on motorists seems to be the preferred one every time. I don't understand that either.